An engineering toolkit to estimate the CO2 storage potential of the western Eromanga Basin, Australia
Tim Stephens A * , Mavise Beattie B , Jeremy Iwanec C , Peter Stephenson A , Barry Bradshaw D and Tom Bernecker DA
B
C
D
Tim Stephens has over 18 years of experience in upstream oil and gas, predominantly with small and mid-tier operators across multiple basins and reservoirs in Australia and New Zealand. In these roles, he has performed in-depth technical studies to advise on field development strategy, exploitation and optimisation of existing production at various levels of project maturity. Selected examples include analytical and numerical modelling and analysis of CSG production and forecasting, mature conventional onshore tight-gas reservoirs, onshore and offshore gas development and oil exploitation and horizontal well development. Tim holds Bachelor degrees with first-class honours in Science from the University of Queensland and a Master’s in Science (Petroleum Engineering) from Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh. He is currently employed as a senior consulting reservoir engineer at RISC Advisory. |
Mavise Beattie is a seasoned geoscientist with over 20 years of global experience in the oil and gas industry, holding a PhD from the University of Wollongong. Her career began with Shell as a Sedimentologist/Reservoir Geologist, and she has since worked with prominent companies like Oil Search, INPEX, KUFPEC, Drillsearch Energy, Santos, Geoscience Australia and currently ADZ Energy. Mavise has contributed to significant projects across various regions, including Borneo (Malaysia), Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines and Alaska. Her expertise spans reservoir modelling, field development, well planning, resource and reserves assessment, assurance, project management and team leadership. |
Jeremy Iwanec is a geoscientist with 20 years of petroleum industry experience. Jeremy completed a BSc (Honours) in Applied Geology from the University of New South Wales in 2002, before joining Oil Search Limited in 2003. At Oil Search, he worked on various projects across Papua New Guinea, Yemen and Kurdistan, undertaking play-based exploration studies, 2D and 3D seismic interpretation, structural and stratigraphic modelling, well planning and delivery, and resource assessments. In 2021, Jeremy joined Geoscience Australia as an Energy Resources Geoscientist where he conducted studies of sediment-hosted energy resources. Jeremy is currently employed as a senior project and policy officer at the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. |
Peter Stephenson has over 40 years of reservoir engineering experience with BP, Shell, Woodside and RISC. He specialises in reservoir evaluation, field development planning, integrated project reviews and the leadership of multidisciplinary teams. Peter has worked in the North Sea, Africa, the Middle East and Australasia, and has developed incisive understanding of complex problems with experience in mature and greenfield oil, gas, gas-condensate and unconventional developments. Peter is a Qualified Reserves and Resource Auditor and member of SPE, SPEE, IChemE. |
Barry Bradshaw is a geoscientist with 33 years of experience undertaking regional geological and geophysical studies and play-based resource assessments for hydrocarbon resources, geological storage projects and sediment-hosted mineral deposits in Australia. Barry is currently employed as the Energy Resources and Advice activity leader at Geoscience Australia, and has previously worked as a Principal Geologist at CGSS consultants, Senior Research Scientist at AGSO/Geoscience Australia and Research Scientist at Texas A&M University (USA). Barry graduated from the University of Sydney in 1988, and completed a PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Waikato (New Zealand) in 1991. |
Thomas (Tom) Bernecker is a geoscientist who holds an MSc from the University of Aachen (RWTH), Germany and a PhD from La Trobe University, Melbourne. His early geological work involved the development of models for siliciclastic and carbonate depositional systems in NW Europe and in Australia. After a lectureship at the University of Melbourne, Tom joined the Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Energy where his work was focused on the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Gippsland and Otway basins. Tom joined Geoscience Australia in 2007 and is currently the Director of Energy Resources Advice and Promotion. Member: PESA, SEAPEX, SEPM. |
Abstract
The western Eromanga Basin comprises a series of deep saline aquifers, covering more than 1,000,000 km2 of central Australia. The basin was evaluated as a potential CO2 sequestration target by Geoscience Australia as part of the Australian Future Energy Resources Project, supported by the Australian Government. RISC Advisory has provided Geoscience Australia with subsurface technical expertise to assist in quantifying the potential estimated ultimate storage volume range under the Society of Petroleum Engineers Storage Reservoir Management System framework. Given the vast area of investigation and relatively sparse geological information available, several industry standard subsurface engineering techniques were adapted by RISC to suit the specific needs of this project. These techniques included permeability upscaling to estimate aerial and vertical storage efficiency, estimation of CO2 fluid properties at reservoir temperature and pressure, and project development parameters such as well count, well injection rates, reservoir pressure with increasing storage volume and water offtake rates under different aquifer constraint scenarios. Low, best and high estimated storage volumes were generated using probabilistic uncertainty in both the basin-scale geological model and engineering workflows to give a range of CO2 storage volumes. This work describes the technical basis for the theoretical CO2 storage volume assessment of the western Eromanga Basin, and project development parameters for a typical 50 Mt storage project.
Keywords: CCUS, CO2, efficiency, energy transition, EUS, global warming, greenhouse gas, sequestration, SPE-SRMS, storage.
Tim Stephens has over 18 years of experience in upstream oil and gas, predominantly with small and mid-tier operators across multiple basins and reservoirs in Australia and New Zealand. In these roles, he has performed in-depth technical studies to advise on field development strategy, exploitation and optimisation of existing production at various levels of project maturity. Selected examples include analytical and numerical modelling and analysis of CSG production and forecasting, mature conventional onshore tight-gas reservoirs, onshore and offshore gas development and oil exploitation and horizontal well development. Tim holds Bachelor degrees with first-class honours in Science from the University of Queensland and a Master’s in Science (Petroleum Engineering) from Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh. He is currently employed as a senior consulting reservoir engineer at RISC Advisory. |
Mavise Beattie is a seasoned geoscientist with over 20 years of global experience in the oil and gas industry, holding a PhD from the University of Wollongong. Her career began with Shell as a Sedimentologist/Reservoir Geologist, and she has since worked with prominent companies like Oil Search, INPEX, KUFPEC, Drillsearch Energy, Santos, Geoscience Australia and currently ADZ Energy. Mavise has contributed to significant projects across various regions, including Borneo (Malaysia), Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines and Alaska. Her expertise spans reservoir modelling, field development, well planning, resource and reserves assessment, assurance, project management and team leadership. |
Jeremy Iwanec is a geoscientist with 20 years of petroleum industry experience. Jeremy completed a BSc (Honours) in Applied Geology from the University of New South Wales in 2002, before joining Oil Search Limited in 2003. At Oil Search, he worked on various projects across Papua New Guinea, Yemen and Kurdistan, undertaking play-based exploration studies, 2D and 3D seismic interpretation, structural and stratigraphic modelling, well planning and delivery, and resource assessments. In 2021, Jeremy joined Geoscience Australia as an Energy Resources Geoscientist where he conducted studies of sediment-hosted energy resources. Jeremy is currently employed as a senior project and policy officer at the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. |
Peter Stephenson has over 40 years of reservoir engineering experience with BP, Shell, Woodside and RISC. He specialises in reservoir evaluation, field development planning, integrated project reviews and the leadership of multidisciplinary teams. Peter has worked in the North Sea, Africa, the Middle East and Australasia, and has developed incisive understanding of complex problems with experience in mature and greenfield oil, gas, gas-condensate and unconventional developments. Peter is a Qualified Reserves and Resource Auditor and member of SPE, SPEE, IChemE. |
Barry Bradshaw is a geoscientist with 33 years of experience undertaking regional geological and geophysical studies and play-based resource assessments for hydrocarbon resources, geological storage projects and sediment-hosted mineral deposits in Australia. Barry is currently employed as the Energy Resources and Advice activity leader at Geoscience Australia, and has previously worked as a Principal Geologist at CGSS consultants, Senior Research Scientist at AGSO/Geoscience Australia and Research Scientist at Texas A&M University (USA). Barry graduated from the University of Sydney in 1988, and completed a PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Waikato (New Zealand) in 1991. |
Thomas (Tom) Bernecker is a geoscientist who holds an MSc from the University of Aachen (RWTH), Germany and a PhD from La Trobe University, Melbourne. His early geological work involved the development of models for siliciclastic and carbonate depositional systems in NW Europe and in Australia. After a lectureship at the University of Melbourne, Tom joined the Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Energy where his work was focused on the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Gippsland and Otway basins. Tom joined Geoscience Australia in 2007 and is currently the Director of Energy Resources Advice and Promotion. Member: PESA, SEAPEX, SEPM. |
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